Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has announced that it has recently discovered a significant deposit of oil and gas in its Al-Nokhatha field within Kuwait's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Persian Gulf. KOC said that the discovery, which covers an area of 96 square kilometres east of Failaka island, contains about 2.1 billion barrels of light oil and 5.1 trillion cubic feet (approximately 140 billion cubic metres) of natural gas.
KOC clarified that the figures are "preliminary data" and that the actual hydrocarbon resources contained within the discovery have the potential to be higher than initial estimates.
An initial exploration phase will entail the drilling of six wells. The execution of future drilling phases will depend on the findings of the initial phase.
A series of 2D seismic surveys of Kuwait's offshore area led to the discovery. These were then followed by geophysical and geological studies to provide a more accurate assessment of the earth layers with the aim of identifying the most optimal drilling sites.
